Brian Wood and police officer Henry Reyna show their photography in Saginaw exhibit

View full sizeBrian Wood and Henry Reyna's photography remains on display through July 11 at the Andersen Enrichment Center in Saginaw.

SAGINAW, MI — As a police officer and a television journalist, you’d think Henry Reyna and Brian Wood had seen just about everything already.

But the camera lens opened a new world to both men, captured in “Reflections of a Quiet Time: Photography by Henry Reyna and Brian Wood,” on display through July 11 at the Anderson Enrichment Center.

“Our daytime lives are what they are, sometimes exciting and often disturbing,” said Reyna, who works for the Saginaw Township police force. “There isn’t much room for quietness or reflection.”

Reyna started working for Sheriff James Kelly nearly 30 years ago, leaving a job as a bartender to become a security guard at the jail, and fell in love with police work. He says it’s as if he’s never worked a day in his life.

But when he bought his son Adam a camera and saw the images the young man created, “it finally dawned on me that maybe I should take it up, too,” Reyna said. “So, a couple of years ago, I went out and bought a camera. Adam spurred me on, and now I’m hooked.”

For Wood, in a business where you are constantly on the move, touching a scene and running for the next one, photography allows him to reflect on what he sees through the lens.

“I never realized how beautiful Michigan is,” he said. “And when I see something wonderful, it makes me want to explore it deeper and see what’s waiting around the corner.”

On a recent weekend, Wood put 500 miles on his car chasing down sunsets on the Leelanau peninsula and at a favorite lighthouse in Ludington.

“I didn’t get the shots I wanted to finish my summer portfolio,” he said. “I went back to the same place three times to get the best shot, and when I backed my car out, I bumped into something, broke my car’s tail lamp. It wasn’t the greatest of experiences that time, but it’s not like I have that much else to do.”

The Andersen Enrichment Show is a first for Wood and Reyna, with both men crediting the center’s Marsha Braun for making them look good. They started talking about photography as a crime scene Wood was covering for Channel 5, WNEM, and that’s when Wood told Reyna about a photography club he had joined in Frankenmuth.

While they probably won’t leave their day jobs, and, like Reyna’s son Adam, carve out a career in photography, both have works on display in businesses such as Crumbs near Gratiot and Center in Saginaw Township and at the dawn of a new day coffee shop near South Washington and Federal in Saginaw.

Reyna has explored the idea of using art in his police work, studying ways it can lead to crime prevention.

“I like faces and landscapes that capture a mood,” he said. “I have one that I shot late last summer of an American-American gentleman who was salmon fishing. He wore Carhartt suspenders and black hat and the fish was huge in his hand.

“Photography is a lot like stealthily hunting down your subject. And you know when you snap it if it’s going to be good. It’s very rewarding; I’m very proud when someone else likes it, too.”

Wood says little happens in his niece and nephew’s families that he doesn’t document these days.

“Dance recitals, softball games, I’m there for them all,” he said. “That’s been the best benefit of all.”

“Reflections of a Quiet Time: Photography by Henry Reyna and Brian Wood” continues through July 11 at the Andersen Enrichment Center, 120 Ezra Rust in Saginaw. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Admission is free.